A Tryst in Time by Eugenia Riley

Author:Eugenia Riley
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

By the time a week passed, Sarah was feeling stir crazy. She spent her days repairing the paintings, her nights with Damien. Being with him was paradise, yet part of Sarah bristled against her continuing confinement in the house, and her mind remained troubled. From time to time, she still found voodoo charms in her room, and she still heard the ominous voice urging her to leave.

Sarah continued to feel frightened of the world outside the windows of the house, the world of Damien's century that was forbidden to her. In a way, she felt that she and Damien had both become prisoners of the house. The house seemed symbolic of the shared grief neither of them could quite let go of. She loved him with all her heart now, yet as a human being, a vibrant, healthy young woman, Sarah couldn't help but feel trapped.

While Damien still spent much of his time sequestered in his study, writing Vincy's memoirs, in other ways Sarah sensed that he could be on the brink of a dramatic change. He laughed regularly now; the old Damien had rarely even smiled. He brought her flowers and sweet wines nightly; they danced in the salon; they talked for hours on end and made beautiful, joyous love together.

And there were other subtle changes. One morning as Sarah paced the salon, she heard hoofbeats. Approaching the window, she saw Damien below, standing next to his horse before the fallow field. He was looking out at the barrenness, the snarl of weeds and vines, as if he were making some grand plan. Was he thinking of turning Belle Fontaine into a working plantation again? she wondered. She watched him carefully as he remounted his horse and rode toward the house. The stableboy met him in the yard, taking his horse, and as Damien climbed the steps to the house, she noted a thoughtful smile on his lips, a ruddy glow about his complexion.

Two days later, another startling event occurred. Sarah was taking an afternoon break, sharing tea in the parlor with Olympia, when Damien burst in with a bolt of exquisite white eyelet in his arms. His hair was wind-ruffled, his eyes gleaming, and he smelled of crisp autumn foliage.

"Sarah, you must make yourself a dress out of this," he began excitedly. "I had some business in town and saw this in the window of the dry goods store." He summarily dumped the bolt into Sarah's lap, then grinned at his aunt. "Don't you think the eyelet is perfect for Sarah, Aunt Olympia?"

"It's quite fine, nephew," Olympia commented stiffly.

Damien now pulled several yards of rolled-up, blue satin ribbon from the pocket of his frock coat. He grinned at Sarah as he handed her the roll. "I thought pale blue for trim. Do you agree?"

"Oh, yes," she said, touched by his thoughtfulness. "It's lovely."

"Sarah, you should see the fall foliage over River Road," he went on with growing animation. "It's so glorious, with the trees changing colors. I must take you"

Abruptly, Damien stopped talking, and the two of them exchanged an anguished look.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.